


Reach Out, I'll Be There

by chairdesklamp



Series: KSH (Kazokuseirituhen) 1997-98 [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Better Parent Issin, Health Ed in a fic - Freeform, M/M, Teen Pregnancy, Trans Ichigo, Trans Ichigo Kurosaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 12:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18094310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chairdesklamp/pseuds/chairdesklamp
Summary: Ichigo comes out to Chizuru. Chad sees his first ghost and makes dinner. Yuzu doesn't want to be impressed.





	Reach Out, I'll Be There

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:
> 
> -They’re starting to just come out with same-gender love songs, but back in the day, all we could do was use ones, for queer men, by girls or just change the “girl” to “boy” in karaoke a/o serenading our men. You’ll notice I ignore gender in love songs. That’s why. That, and that places like Mafia-run discos looked the other way and didn’t like police anyway, is also why Donna Summer is such a gay icon. Although when she converted to Evangelical, unlike, say, Pebbles, she went on very loud anti-gay crusades. A slap in the face to probably her most dedicated fanbase, that’s why I ain’t so fond of her these days. 
> 
> -I went with something from the Group Sounds era, which I’d planned to reserve for Issin, Masaki, and Ryuken's past, since it takes place largely in the late sixties after the Isidas are sponsored by a distant relative to come to Japan, safe from Apartheid and where they can all live together. But this song fits pretty well for this story. Rick Astley’s “Together Forever” might also work, but I plan to use that for Rukia, Nel, and Orihime. I don’t like to reuse songs; not when they’re titles. Only when characters are listening to them, because you don’t listen to records once and toss them. 
> 
> -Yes, Chizuru’s mother is deceased. Yes, this is the same author who will bring back two deceased wives in KSH proper. This is an equal opportunity fan project. I’ll go ahead and spoil it; Kentarou’s days are numbered, and it’s HIS death that causes angst; Chizuru never knew her mother. That happens in KSH proper, too.
> 
> -Fun fact: In Japan, the equivalent of Millennial starts in ’86, though this is sociology, here, not calculus or chemistry, so lines are just fuzzy with generational boundaries. The years of Gen X in the Anglophonic world encompass a couple generations (generations are people who were born or grew up in a specific time; 20 years is a 20th Century Anglophonic thing) There was Baby Boom Junior in ‘71-’73; when Nixon tanked the dollar, it made the yen worth more against it, plus Japan was booming with factories for (then cheap) goods to sell to America, because America said so since they were becoming a service economy. So Japan got to get on more even footing with the dominant US, people were suddenly more affluent, more babies. ’74 to ’84 or ’85 is Post Baby Boom Junior. This is Chad and Ichigo. Chizuru, Karin, and Yuzu are Millennial. So will be the baby Ichigo’s about to have. Remember, this is ’97, baby’s due around May ’98. 
> 
> -I have one joke about Millennials, and they usually like it. Q: What’s the difference between Gen X and Millennials? A: We listen to Rick Astley unironically.
> 
> -If they were in America speaking English, Chad would be invited to call Issin by his first name, but in Japanese, you call in-laws a semi-formal way to say “Dad” and “Mum.” 
> 
> -Ichigo manages to be pregnant and still shy about sex, and I hope it’s as funny for you to read as for me to write.
> 
> -I end up having to get close, but rather than write descriptive sex between two young people, well, I hope you get both a warm, fuzzy feeling and then a good chuckle. And used to it, because that’s the only way I put sexual stuff in a narrative. 
> 
> -More as the works add up, but I’ve moved it from the fictional town of KaRAkura inside Toukyou to Hase in the city of KaMAkura, and added a bit of WHY Ichigo’s town is Aizen’s goal because it was in real life a real short time that Kamakura was the capital, and I’ve got some magic lore for that. (Towns are inside wards inside cities in Japan. The best comparison I have is boroughs in NYC and some parts of LA are divided into smaller towns, but in Japan, you need to write it all on the mail, or your letter won’t get there, because the chomes (numbered streets) repeat in every town, instead of, say, having 206th street in the town of Torrance just outside the city of L.A. because the streets continue from Downtown) Kamakura is in the same province as Yokohama, which is why army brats, and eventually international schools, pop up.

“I’ll be there  
With a love that will shelter you  
And I’ll be there  
With a love that will see you through”—“Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” The Four Tops, USA 1966

  
Ichigo and Chad appeared in the kitchen just as Issin set a large bag on the counter.

“I got breakfast from the Seven on the corner. Go sit down, I’ll set it out.”

Chad noted Ichigo’s portion was the same size as his and Issin’s.

“You should be eating more; have some of mine.”

Issin shook his head as Ichigo looked sceptically between the two of them.

“Another American misconception. All that does is make sure you gain weight that sticks around after giving birth. It’s not how _much_ a pregnant person eats, but _what_ they eat. Ichigo, that’s why I got you chicken curry—you should be increasing your protein. There are also other nutrients a pregnant person needs that most others don’t, so we’ll go down to the pharmacy when I have time this weekend and change out your vitamins.”

It would be a week tomorrow since Issin had known, but Ichigo was still somewhat floored by the overwhelming support he was getting.

“Mm. Thanks, Old Man.”

Just as all five of them were finally eating, a hunched-over, balding man walked over to the table, eyes on everyone’s food.

“Can I have some?”

Ichigo recognised him as the stubborn, persistent ghost that Issin had locked in the broom closet when diagnosing him.

Ichigo rubbed his face with his hands and sighed into them.

“Who is that?” Chad asked, puzzled.

Ichigo sighed, “He’s the ghost of a patient who died of stab wounds around last We—“

The house was silent.

Ichigo stared at Chad, and Chad stared at the sheepish, middle-aged man.

_“You can see ghosts…!”_

_“I can see ghosts…!”_

Issin chuckled.

“Welcome to our world, Yasutora. Ichigo, he’s been hanging around you daily for months, and this house almost nightly this past week. It happens, boys. All it means is Yasutora would have developed the ability at some point, but steeping in our auras so much hastened it.”

Ichigo noticed the colour drain from his partner’s face, and his hand frozen, still pointing to the ghost.

“Hey, Chad!”

Despite Ichigo grabbing Chad’s arm, he fell off the chair on the side toward Karin. A loud snapping sound resulted as he fell on the floorboards.

Karin giggled, both shocked and amused.

“I think he broke the floor!”

 

  
The two boys were almost at the school.

Not a word had been said the entire way.

Ichigo would normally enjoy Chad silently walking with him, holding his hand, if not for the shock he had received that morning.

Ichigo gave Chad’s hand a squeeze, “Are you okay?”

Chad seemed to only then notice the current moment.

“Yeah. Just surprised… Ichigo…?”

Ichigo noticed there was something in Chad’s voice.

“Yeah?”

“That man…will go to Heaven, right?”

Ichigo realised what the pain was—Chad had an Emily Dickinson-like number of deceased loved ones.

A pain Ichigo could begin to understand.

“As long as he was a good person, he should. Some people have trouble leaving this world. I don’t know the details, but I think Dad helps them let go somehow. I think he counsels them or something. I don’t know. But yeah, if he was a good person, he’ll go to Heaven when he can accept his death….”

Chad was looking at Ichigo, nodding at his words, but Ichigo could see that it was a memory, perhaps many, that was truly in front of Chad’s eyes.

He reached up, brushing Chad’s hair away from his eyes.

“Your parents, your grandparents, they sound like good people. Good people go to Heaven; they’re okay.”

That seemed to work. Wordlessly, Chad held Ichigo tight in both arms and buried his face in Ichigo’s hair.

Ichigo looked up.

It was daunting to say as it was true.

“I love you, Yasutora Sado.”

Chad kissed him, “I love you, Ichigo Kurosaki.”

After a second kiss, Ichigo jerked his head in the direction they’d been walking, “Think you’re ready to get going?”

Chad closed his eyes serenely and nodded.

“Let’s go.”

They had just passed the gate, five minutes to class, and they were surrounded.

Clearly, by ninth graders. One of them, a sneer on his face, spat in the dirt, grinning at them, arms crossed and chin high in confidence.

“Two left-back freaks for the price of one! Consider us _pest control_.”

Chad and Ichigo, without thinking, began to move to stand back to back.

Ichigo froze, eyes wide.

“Chad!” Ichigo stage-whispered.

Chad looked at Ichigo out of the side of his eye as the group around them closed their circle.

“What would _one well-placed kick do to me right now_?”

Chad’s eyes also went wide.

Noticing one gap still left, Chad picked Ichigo up and leant over him to shield him, bowling down the boys on either side of the gap, bending down and striking with his shoulder to break the nose of the boy who tried to pull him back.

Ichigo still in his arms, Chad ran them to the nurse’s office.

The nurse turned with a start, “What’s going on, boys!?”

 

They exited Issin’s car, and the three of them entered the house.

Ichigo, hands in pockets, walked to the far wall of the living room and leant against it, head bowed.

“I’m sorry, Chad…I welched on my promise to you.”

Chad strode over purposefully, and knelt at Ichigo’s feet, looking up into Ichigo’s face.

Ichigo wasn’t crying, but he looked close to it.

Chad coaxed Ichigo’s hands out of his pockets and into his own.

“There’s time for that later. Now…Ichigo…you’re giving me a _family_ again.”

Ichigo seemed startled out of his self-loathing as Chad let go of Ichigo’s hands, and put them on his hips, moving closer, and finally laying a kiss right over Ichigo’s womb.

“You’re doing something for me unthinkable at our age. Fighting can wait.”

Ichigo smiled a slight, genuine smile and beckoned Chad to his feet.

“Yasutora…”

They wrapped their arms around each other, and kissed to the point that neither noticed Issin come in.

“They grow up so fast!” Issin mock-cried.

The boys jumped, clacking teeth together, jumping at the sudden declaration.

Issin seemed either amused by or oblivious to both boys covering their mouths for the pain.

“Anyway, Ichigo—starting today, we’ll just keep you home and tell the school, like I said before, that it’s complications from when you caught malaria. Yasutora, I’ll give you an excuse slip today and as much as you need if it’s related to Ichigo. I’m telling them you’re helping me care for him, which is the truth, but people aren’t gonna wanna mess with the doctor in the nearest emergency clinic.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Thank you, Dr. Kurosaki.”

Issin clapped Chad on the shoulder hard enough that a slighter person would bruise, “You call me ‘Dad,’ too, now. You’re part of the family.”

Chad blushed, but was less embarrassed and more in joyful awe. He hadn’t had anyone to call anything like that for eight lonely years.

“Yes, Dad.”

Ichigo walked past Chad, pulling him by the hand toward the stairs, “We’re gonna go rest for a while.”

Issin snorted, “If you’re experiencing an elevated sex drive, that’s common for both your age and for pre-“

_“Dad, we are not talking this frankly unless it’s necessary…”_ Ichigo said through gritted teeth.

Issin shrugged, smiling. It wasn’t like there wasn’t concrete proof his son had done mature activities already. At least the other boy was someone Issin very much approved of.

 

  
Ichigo noted the time on the alarm clock was a bit after one P.M. as he caught his breath.

“I know you have more biologically mandated limits, but I could still keep going.”

Chad kissed him and sat up, “Some of me is done, but I have an idea.”

“Oh?”

Before Ichigo could get out the words to ask, Chad settled himself between Ichigo’s legs.

Tenderly, he laid a kiss on Ichigo’s bare abdomen, again, over his womb, and looked up at him tenderly.

“I love you, Ichigo.”

“I love you, Yasuto-“

**_“BIG BROTHERRRRR!”_ **

Ichigo had just enough time to remember that the lock on his door still wasn’t working right and throw the blanket over as much of himself and Chad as he could before Yuzu practically burst in.

“Y-Yuzu! Hi!”

Ichigo was, at the moment, grateful for Chad’s tendencies toward silence, and hoped he wouldn’t suffocate, as fond as Ichigo was of him.

Yuzu held up to his face a plate of stiff, burnt, bread-like indiscernible something.

“Welcome home! I made a pancake! Try it!”

Ichigo reached out with an awkward expression that escaped her notice as Chizuru and Karin came up behind her.

Chizuru noticed Chad’s legs hanging off the edge of the bed, and his extra bulk directly to Ichigo’s right under the blanket.

“I think we should make more! Two pancakes isn’t enough for everyone.”

“But we don’t know if these are good,” Yuzu protested.

Ichigo steeled his resolve, and bit into the pancake. It crunched. And kept crunching as he chewed. It was sharp down his throat as he swallowed.

“Mmm. I think this is a good start,” he lied through his teeth, “But I think you better practise more—as soon as possible! Seize the day!”

“ _See!?_ ” Chizuru almost shouted, “Let’s go!”

A fist in the air, she led the charge, and the three of them shouted their way down the stairs.

Ichigo pulled back the blanket.

Chad pulled himself up on his arms, and the two shared a deep sigh.

 

Ichigo had stalled over an hour, but now found himself with Chizuru as well as Chad, putting the wholly trashed kitchen to rights.

Ichigo put the pot he’d been scrubbing down, turned off the water, and turned around, “Chizuru.”

Chizuru stopped wiping down the refrigerator doors and bounced over, “Yeah?”

Ichigo held her back from pouncing on him, “Thanks for…helping distract the twins earlier.”

“You’re welcome!” She beamed.

Then her expression became somewhat forlorn, “Why won’t you let me hug you…?”

Ichigo sighed, and exchanged a nod with Chad, who’d pulled his head out of the oven, and now sat seiza on the floor, watching.

“Chizuru…can you keep a secret?”

Chizuru nodded, “I’m still keeping a secret for a friend in first grade!”

Ichigo tested her, “What secret?”

Chizuru shook her head furiously, “I can’t tell you! It’s a secret!”

Ichigo relaxed, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“That was a test. You passed.”

Chizuru’s face lit up as Ichigo continued.

“If this secret got out. I could be killed. Do you understand it’s _really_ serious?”

Chizuru emphatically nodded, eyes wide.

“Good. There’s actually two secrets. My dad, three of his friends, the twins, Chad, and a friend I used to go to a doujo in Yokohama with are the only people who know.”

Chizuru nodded eagerly again.

“The first secret is…well…”

Ichigo bit his lip as he pondered how to explain it best.

“When most people are born, everyone can guess right away if they’re a girl or a boy. But sometimes, that guess is wrong, and even though they might, say, look like a girl, their heart and mind are a boy’s, so they have to become a boy. Are you following me?”

Chizuru nodded, “So there are boys with parts like mine?”

Ichigo smiled. “Yes, exactly.”

“Are there girls with parts not like mine?”

“Yes, there are. And there are people who aren’t just a girl or a boy.”

Chizuru put her hands to her cheeks. “Wow, that’s so cool! Is that the secret?”

Ichigo visibly relaxed against the counter at her words.

“No. The first secret is that I’m a boy like that. I’m a boy with parts like you.”

Chizuru nodded. “Okay, I’ll keep your secret with my life!” She crossed her arms and puffed out her chest in an attempt to demonstrate her toughness, but quickly dropped that stance in exchange for holding a finer up and cocking an eyebrow.

“So what’s the second secret?”

Ichigo shifted against the counter, but punched his way through it.

“Chad and I are having a baby. That’s why you can’t jump on me. I’m pregnant. I’ll give you hugs, but they have to be gentle for a while.”

Chizuru’s eyes went wide in sudden understanding. “Okay! I can be gentle! I was worried you didn’t like me!”

Ichigo put a hand on her shoulder, “No, that’s not it. I do like you; you’re neat.”

He snorted, “And that was a nice save earlier. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She rocked on her heels, putting out her arms, “Can I give you a gentle hug?”

Ichigo smiled, another small smile, his genuine smile, “Sure.”

Gingerly, she put her arms around him, her head coming up to his sternum.

She put a hand on his stomach, “There’s a baby in here?”

Ichigo put her hand lower, “Here, actually.”

Chizuru looked up at him suspiciously, “Aren’t pregnant people really big…?”

Ichigo chuckled, “Not right away. It’s not even a baby yet. It takes time: nine to ten months. I won’t start getting big for a while.”

“How are you gonna keep it a secret then?”

“I’m not happy about it, but I’ll have to not leave the house.”

“Oooh, you’re gonna be _sooooo_ bored! Don’t worry! I’ll help you find stuff to do! I’m a master at doing stuff!”

Ichigo laughed.

Chad gave her a two-thumbs-up, which she returned as eagerly as she did most things.

“Chizuru,” Chad called her attention.

“Yeah?”

Chad stood up and walked over, “I’ll make dinner.”

He paused, giving Ichigo a questioning look, which Ichigo answered with a teasing smile and a two-thumbs-up.

Chad turned back to Chizuru, “Wanna come with me to the store?”

“Wait,” Ichigo called as the two began to walk out, “Do you have money?”

“Yes, Reverend Gisemba pays me for helping with complex maintenance.”

Ichigo nodded, “Oh, yeah, okay. Be safe.”

“Can we get candy?” Chizuru asked as she skipped next to Chad.

Chad leant in conspiratorially and whispered, “Maybe just a little.”

  
Ichigo sat backwards on the chair he’d pulled into the kitchen where he could watch Chad teach Chizuru how to make tacos.

“It’s hard to find chorizo, ground and seasoned organ meat, in Hase. Ground pork is not traditional.”

Chizuru nodded, serious, but looking for all the world a parody of seriousness.

“So we add all these spices? Won’t it be hot?” she asked, holding out a bag of dried peppers.

“These are hot. I couldn’t find ancho peppers. We won’t use too much.”

“So we just stick ‘em in?”

“No, we’ll puree them.”

Chad pointed to the blender and looked at Ichigo.

“You heard Dad,: Ichigo answered, “Use what you need.”

They added the garlic and other spices to the peppers, blended them, and poured them into a bowl with the ground pork.

“Now we stir it in. Remember, wash your hands after.”

“Okay!” Chizuru exclaimed as she set about mixing.

It would be better to fold the spices in, Chad knew, but he didn’t want to risk Chizuru getting raw pork under her nails and not cleaning it out.

“Chad.”

Chad turned so he could keep an eye on Chizuru and face Ichigo at once.

“The girls are due back from the Hayakawas’ any minute.”

“I know.”

It wasn’t five minutes until Chad had to yank the ‘chorizo’ off the heat to avoid burning it and comfort Yuzu, who was bawling “It’s _my_ kitchen! Boys can’t cook! I don’t wanna eat glasses anymore!”

Having finished cooking with a pouting Yuzu balanced on his left hip, he sat her at the table as Ichigo helped him bring out the meat, oven-warmed tortillas, a shredded cabbage and carrot mix, and cheddar cheese.

“They don’t have panela or queso fresco in Daiwa,” Chad said as Ichigo set the cheese down and all six were finally at the table.

As everyone partook of building their tacos, Ichigo turned to Chad next to him, blushing.

“I gotta admit, it’s really reassuring to watch you with kids.”

Chad gave him a peck on the cheek. “More later.”

Ichigo had half a mind to rush to empty his plate, but he was part of cleanup, and realised he’d just have to have patience.

Across from him, Yuzu was staring angrily at the taco she’d eaten one bite of.

“Yuzu, what’s wrong?”

“It’s not bad,” she said, crossing her arms.

“It’s good!” Chizuru said enthusiastically, “What’s wrong with that?”

In a split second, Yuzu burst into tears, “Big Brother Yasutora will replace me! I wanted to cook!”

Karin glared at Chad and Ichigo, though the effect was somewhat lessened by her face full of sauce.

“Fix Yuzu.”

Ichigo sighed and walked around to kneel on his haunches next to Yuzu and rub what he hoped was comforting circles over her back.

“No one’s replacing anyone, Yuzu, just trying to help you so you don’t have to work so hard. Our family is getting bigger, so more people can help each other now”

Tears stopping, she looked up at Chad.

“You made this to help me?”

Chad nodded, “Yeah.”

Yuzu smiled wide and bit off as much taco as she could.

“It’s good!” She said through her mouthful.

 

A chair was shoved firmly under the door in Ichigo’s room as he and Chad lay in each other’s arms. ‘More’ had been had, and the two were sleepy.

Chad ran his hand down Ichigo’s side and hip.

“Yasutora…”

“Mmh?”

“Thanks for…being here…with me.”

“That’s my line. You’re giving me a _family_.”

“Watching you with the girls earlier, I feel like it’ll really be okay.”

Chad pulled Ichigo tighter to him by the shoulders. ”I think it will be, too.”


End file.
